James Vick is no longer a UFC fighter after the promotion opted not to sign a new deal with him after his current deal expired recently.
At first glance that might seem surprising given that just a couple of years ago, Vick was a notable contender at lightweight who had racked up nine wins in ten UFC fights.
However, since then the 32-year-old Vick has suffered a drastic drop-off in form, losing four fights in a row, and worse still, three of those came by way of clean KO in the first round.
It all started when Vick went up against Justin Gaethje in 2018 and was sent toppling face first to the mat with a big right hand to the jaw for a KO Finish just 87 seconds into the fight.
Vick did then fight to a decision against Paul Felder after that, but lost unanimously.
Next up was a fight with Dan Hooker, and this time he only made it to mid-way through the first round before being dropped by a big left hook, with a quick burst of ground and pound sealing the knockout loss.
Most recently Vick tried to reverse his fortunes with a move up to welterweight to face Niko Price and early in the fight he found himself in a dominant position on the mat, postured up and raining down punches on his opponent, only to then be caught flush to the face with an upkick that crumpled him to the canvas at the 1.44min mark of the bout.
As a result the UFC decided to pass on a new deal with ‘The Texecutioner’ and he will now have to test his worth as a free agent.
